������Ƶ

ST. LOUIS — A cascade of mistakes led to the city’s failure to properly deploy its storm sirens last week before a deadly tornado tore through the city.

The city’s emergency management staff were in a workshop, out of the office, despite storm warnings that day. The emergency management chief called the fire department to activate the sirens, but didn’t appear to clearly communicate in the call.

And, even if communication was clear, Mayor Cara Spencer said on Wednesday, the button at the St. Louis Fire Department that activates the sirens wasn’t working.

“It’s my understanding that the button was not pushed,” Spencer said at a press conference. “It’s also my understanding that, had the button been pushed, it did not work the way it should have.”

Late Tuesday night, Spencer placed the emergency management chief, Sarah Russell, on paid administrative leave. It was the City Emergency Management Agency’s job to “alert the public to dangers,” and it failed, Spencer said.

“We knew there was weather coming,” Spencer said. “We should have been at the button.”

Friday’s storm damaged homes from Clayton to Granite City. But the worst hit north St. Louis. Cars flipped, roofs were torn off and entire floors in some homes destroyed. Dozens of people were injured, five killed.

And some residents and officials quickly began to complain that they hadn’t heard the sirens. Over the next few days, anger grew. Some families of the dead faulted the city in their loved ones’ deaths.

But at the press conference on Wednesday, Spencer was backed by a cadre of aldermen, several of whom defended the new mayor and lauded her work in recent days.

“There is nothing that I have asked of this mayor that she has not done,” said Alderwoman Sharon Tyus, of the Kingsway East neighborhood. “She has gone above and beyond what is required of her. She has been in office one month.”

Tyus said previous administrations were to blame for not upgrading the sirens, not Spencer.

“If you’re going to blame somebody, blame the right people, because she’s doing everything she can. I stand by her,” Tyus said.

At Wednesday’s press conference, Spencer also offered details on the failure, following days of mixed messages from city officials.

‘You got the sirens?’

Shortly after noon Friday, messages from the city’s emergency alert system warned residents of a tornado watch. At about 2:10 p.m., messages alerted residents of a tornado warning, and told them to take shelter immediately.

Russell, the CEMA chief, and other CEMA staffers were at a workshop — and not at their office, where CEMA’s siren button is located — even though strong storms were forecast.

Because emergency management officials couldn’t sound the sirens, Russell called the fire department at 2:37 p.m. to ask it to push its button.

On Tuesday night, the city shared a recording of that phone call.

The call starts with a short discussion about a tornado warning that had been issued, with Russell expressing confusion about when it expired.

Then, Russell says, “You got the sirens?”

“Yes ma’am,” the fire department employee says.

“Alright, thank you so much,” Russell responds.

The tornado touched down in Clayton at 2:41 p.m. and tore northeast before reaching the Mississippi River. Winds that topped 150 mph toppled trees and ripped brick from homes.

That same day, residents began to complain that they hadn’t heard the sirens — even if they were outdoors. St. Louis operates 60 warnings sirens that date to 1999.

Over the next few days, Russell and Spencer were asked repeatedly about the sirens. Russell said Sunday the “fire alarm office” was primarily responsible for activating the sirens. On Monday, the mayor said the sirens failed to properly activate because of “a human failure, a failure in protocol.”

Spencer blamed the mistake on a confusion over who was responsible for activating the sirens. She said she would immediately rewrite city policy, giving authority to the fire department alone.

But on Tuesday afternoon, when the fire department tested its version of the button that activates the city storm sirens, it discovered the button wasn’t working, Spencer said. Repairs began immediately, Spencer said.

And she placed a fire department staffer at the CEMA office around the clock, so that person could push CEMA’s storm button, if needed.

Sirens sound across the city

Residents were still furious.

“I feel like they’re responsible for my mother’s death,” Reginald Holmes, whose mother Delois Holmes was among the victims, told the Post-Dispatch on Tuesday about the siren failure.

Just after 10:20 p.m. on Tuesday night, Spencer’s staff sent an announcement saying she had put Russell on leave.

“Commissioner Russell has served our city for years and is a person of good will, but I cannot move on from this without providing accountability and ensuring that our emergency management is in trusted hands,” the mayor said in a statement.

Spencer appointed John Walk, a fire department captain, to take Russell’s spot “until a permanent commissioner has been found.” Michael Thiemann, a division chief with the Metro West Fire Protection District, would provide the city with “additional incident management response support.”

Spencer said an internal investigation into the siren failure revealed “multiple” issues, including the broken button.

She also called for an external investigation to answer lingering questions.

For instance, it’s not clear if the fire department staffer Russell called knew who was calling. Nor did Spencer know if the fire department’s button worked during a siren test Thursday last week. She didn’t know how long that button had been broken.

Spencer declined to say if there would be any discipline for fire department employees.

The fire department announced Wednesday morning it planned to test repairs to its button at noon that day.

And, few seconds after noon, sirens sounded across the city.